1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to mobile communications and, more particularly, to allocation of mobile station resources.
2. Background of the Invention
Prior to the widespread implementation of mobile communications networks, parents had few options for staying in contact with their children. For example, when a parent urgently needed to communicate with a child that was not at home, the parent typically would call the houses of one or more friends. If the child was not located at any of his friend's houses, the parent oftentimes would search for the child by physically traveling to locations that the child was known to visit. The advent of mobile stations (e.g. cellular telephones and push-to-talk (PTT) telephones), however, has provided a much more convenient means for parents to keep track of their children's activities and whereabouts. Indeed, many parents even provide their children with their own mobile stations.
Notwithstanding the assistance mobile communications has provided to parents in attempting to maintain contact with their children, the use of mobile communications is not infallible at achieving this goal. For example, children sometimes become involved in long telephone conversations on their mobile stations. In the meantime, they often ignore other calls. Children also sometimes forget to turn on their mobile stations. Thus, even if a child has his own mobile station, his parents still may have difficulty contacting him. It therefore would be beneficial to provide to parents a means for improving the probability of actually being able to contact a child via the child's mobile station.